Dollhouse + Cousin's Dinner + Coworker Weirdness

[sarea]

OK, who else caught the premiere of Dollhouse? If you missed it, it's currently on Hulu (I don't know how long it's going to be up). To be honest, it was somewhat of a let down. Actually, it was a lot of a let down. It falls into the category of several movies I've watched that had great premises, and then when it came to delivery, it fell way short.

I'm not super worried about it. The Buffy pilot was weak (though they had minimal budget) and I thought the Firefly pilot(s) were a big snore (to this day, it's like torture to me in trying to watch them ... they just move so slooooowly). So Joss starting a series out slow doesn't really bother me. There's also the fact that it may not be Joss's/the series's fault. According to jade_okelani, the studio has been sticking its nose in where it shouldn't, and the first 6 episodes have their lameass fingerprints all over them. I just don't understand when you have a talent/genius like Joss, why you'd second guess him or assume that you know better. Just LEAVE IT THE FUCK ALONE.

The one thing that isn't Joss's fault, or the fault of the show, is that ... well, Eliza Dushku is not so much a great actress. I never thought she was that great of an actress, even though I dig her a lot, but as Faith she was fine. In Dollhouse, her lack of acting chops seems somehow to be made very obvious. Maybe it's because in some ways, Dollhouse is a lot like Alias, and Jennifer Garner did a much better job being different personas. Eliza's efforts seem forced and unnatural.

Anyway, bottom line, a less than stellar beginning, but I'm willing to ride out the wave and hope that it builds the way other Joss shows have built.

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Strange or not?

I have a coworker who I'm friendly with. (Grammar nazis -- is "who" or "whom" correct in that sentence? I've gone over and over it in my head to the point where now it's meaningless, and I'm second guessing myself re: the object and subject, etc. etc.) She's Asian, was born in Singapore, lived in Korea for a bit, but lived for many years in New Zealand and moved here from there. She misses Asian food, so we try to have lunch once a week and I take her to the best Asian places I know (which aren't many). This includes Chinese, Japanese, and Korean. We've also talked about cooking, and last time we had lunch she was like, "Oh, I'll have to invite you over for a meal sometime! I can experiment on you." And I said sincerely that I would enjoy that -- because I love home cooking, and finding good recipes, and stuff like that.

So the other day, she pings me at work and says that she made some mint pea and ham soup, and wanted me to try it. So I gamely went over, and she was microwaving some obviously frozen soup, and from the discussion we had about it, I found out that this was soup she had made not recently, but had frozen to eat at a later time. Which is fine for stuff you make yourself or for your family, but to offer someone else that food? I thought it was a little bizarre, but I ate some of the soup anyway, which was fine (even though I'm not a big fan of mint in savory dishes).

THEN, yesterday, she pings me again and says, "I have some food for you." I thought perhaps she had made something and wanted me to try it. So I went over to her office, and she had brought me leftovers from a Korean dish she'd had the night before when she went out with her husband. It was a huge dish (I've been there and had it before) so she couldn't finish, and she said that she ordered it in mind to "share" it with me. I'm sure that the food itself is fine, that she didn't eat off of it (as in, she spooned from the dish onto her own plate), but STILL. Is it just me or is that totally weird? Why would you bring someone your leftovers?? And expect that they'd want it?? Because I'm sure it's fine and because she's my "friend," I don't want to make a big deal of turning it down, and I'll probably eat it ... but seriously. Am I being too sensitive and I'm the weird one?? I just feel like some weird social breach has been made somehow, even though there's nothing technically wrong.

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Buffy S4 has sold. I thought it would be the one to sell last, because who cares about Riley? In sell order so far: 2, 6, 7, 4. I can't believe no one wants the Faith arc, or what I think is possibly my favorite season (5). I'm going to guess that S1 will sell last, if at all, because it is the worst season of the lot (imho).

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So a couple of days ago, my cousin asked if I could be ready to do the dinner this weekend because next weekend was the 40th birthday of a good friend of hers. What could I say but yes? The pain in the ass is that I need to bring some ingredients and possibly kitchen equipment there, so I'd like to get some of it done beforehand.

- Creamy Scallop Soup: Got the white fish frames from Whole Foods yesterday, and am planning to make the stock tonight, if possible. I'd like it to be ready enough that tomorrow all I have to do is drop in the creme fraiche and scallops.

- I have 1-lb of fresh shrimp to clean and shell for the shrimp scampi. If I have time tonight, I'll do it, otherwise will do it Saturday morning. I'm planning to serve it with fettucini, but that can be quickly cooked there (and obviously travels well). The rest of it will need to be done there.

- Need to make the pâte brisée for the Tarte à l'Oignon. I think I'll prepare the crust and get it in the tart tin Saturday morning. Slicing the onions and putting together the rest of the tart will need to happen there.

- Zucchini "pasta": basically just thinly shaved zucchini that I'll probably just saute in leftover scampi sauce. This should be fairly quick, so I can just do it there. Need to make sure they have a vegetable peeler.

- Zuni Cafe's Buttermilk Mashed Potatoes: This one's kind of tricky. This would be the perfect thing to make ahead of time and just heat up, but then it doesn't require THAT much effort to make, and things are always better fresh, so shouldn't I just make it there? Yet I'll have so much other stuff to worry about. Plus if I make it there, how am I going to transport all the minimal ingredients? I don't want to have to drive buttermilk, heavy cream, etc., around, when I'm only using a couple of tablespoons each. The more I think about it, the more I think this is probably better made ahead of time, in which case it's another task for Saturday morning.

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akscully shared a link to the most awesome WoW machinima video ever. It's here. It's a lot more meaningful if you know something about WoW lore (I'd be happy to share if anyone wants to know), but even if you don't, you can appreciate the technical awesomeness. It really makes me want to write fanfic about it.

The Craft of War: BLIND from percula on Vimeo.

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After reading about so much good food, and finishing Garlic and Sapphires, I felt inspired to be more ambitious about trying new restaurants. That's what led me to Nara Japanese Restaurant in Redmond. BIG MISTAKE. The worst money I have ever spent -- and that is saying something. The food was mediocre, the portions were tiny, it was run by non-Japanese Asian people (which should have made me run out the door immediately), and there was practically no one there for dinner. With tax and tip it ended up costing $24, and I got sick the next morning. Seriously, I would take that entire night back if I could.

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Getting my hair cut at 3pm today. How I hope it won't be a big waste of money like that dinner.

Comments

[ropo.livejournal.com]

Bummer for your bad meal, man. That's the suck.

I dunno about the recycled-food friend. Me, I'm like "Free food!" but I'm pretty easy. But I wouldn't eat soup with mint under any circumstances, so... there you go. Useless commenting from me. *g*

[idreamofdraco.livejournal.com]

I think you can say "I have a coworker with whom I'm friendly" or "I have a coworker I'm friendly with". I would say "who I'm friendly with" too, but it does sound kind of funny. When I write, I try to avoid using who that way. Buuuuut that's just me.

I think the food-sharing co-worker is kind of weird, but I agree with ropo that if someone wants to give me free food, I'd gladly take it. :)

[ropo.livejournal.com]

I think it's 'whom' too, but it sounds so hifalutin that way.

[jade-okelani.livejournal.com]

I agree that 'whom' is probably technically right, but it sounds bizarre. When is it okay to be grammatically incorrect in the service of not sounding British-in-a-bad-way?

The thing is, the leftover food thing is like, a comfort level thing. If someone you were really close to did it, I wouldn't even blink - but I don't know if you feel close enough to this coworker for that to be so. Like, you're work friends, not friends who work together, and so you esp. probably feel there's a necessary distance there that her giving you leftovers sort of violates.

[corianderstem.livejournal.com]

I was very underwhelmed by the premiere of Dollhouse, but I did enjoy last night's episode.

[selinakyle47.livejournal.com]

As someone above said, I'd gladly take leftovers from my family but not co-workers unless you're super close with them. It seems very strange that she'd offer them to you.